The usually smaller franchise in the Marvel cinematic universe grows exponentially in ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA.

We were invited to participate in the virtual press conference and you can read the most important highlights below!

Directed by Peyton Reed alongside MCU President and producer of the seque, Kevin Feige, were surrounded by the film’s stars: Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/The Wasp, Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror and Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang, Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. The film also features David Dastmalchian as Veb, Katy O’Brian as Jentorra, William Jackson Harper as Quaz and Bill Murray as Lord Krylar.

What would you say is the signature of these movies, and how does Quantumania continue that while amplifying everything we know about Ant-Man and the Wasp?

Peyton Reed: The Ant-Man movies have really always been about family. It is a generational story about a family of heroes, and Scott Lang, who is not a billionaire or super scientist or anything, getting sucked into this world, and Hope van Dyne who is the legacy daughter of two superheroes, Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer. So it’s this generational thing, and now young Cassie Lang, who is probably Scott’s biggest motivating factor of, like, having time with his daughter.
He wants to be a hero, obviously. He’s an Avenger, but it’s really about work-life balance and also finding time with his daughter. It’s the most important thing. In this movie, Cassie Lang is 18, but we continue the story of this family, and I think in Quantumania, one of the things we’ve done is really broaden that story and start talking about the secrets the family members keep from each other, the things they don’t tell each other.

And at the beginning of the movie, very quickly we find out that maybe Janet hasn’t told the family about her 30 years in the Quantum Realm, and maybe Hope and Hank have not told Scott about what they’re working on with Cassie down in the basement, and maybe Cassie hasn’t told her dad about time she might’ve spent in jail.
So everyone’s keeping secrets from Scott at the beginning of the movie, and suddenly, they’re thrust into the Quantum Realm, and they have to kind of work out these family dynamics while being in this bizarro, wacked-out world. But it really is the theme of family that I think is the constant in the movies.

How have Scott’s feelings about being a superhero changed since the very first Ant-Man in 2015?

Paul Rudd: He is happy that all of that, it seems to be in the rearview mirror, and now we get to have kind of a normal life, have some time together. And, you know, it doesn’t last, obviously, as long as maybe he thought it would.
But I think that he’s kind of grown a lot over the course of nine years or so that we’ve been doing these movies. I mean, this is a guy who, like, started off, he [cough] had a regular job. He was, you know, brought into this group and has no innate super abilities, but then he went up and fought Thanos. So he’s experienced a thing or two, and he’s accepted who he is.

Can you set it up for us?

Rudd: Well, I think, you know, when we start this movie, when you see this movie, it’s kind of been present day. The events of Endgame, everything has already transpired. I wouldn’t say he’s taking a victory lap, but others might say that.
And he’s written a book, you know, a memoir, look out for the little guy, and he’s explained everything that’s been going on in life and his experiences with the Avengers, but now he is ready to have some time, be a normal dad. And, you know, there are some issues there, because we missed out on a lot, and I kind of wanna recapture some of those years.

How has Hope van Dyne evolved since audiences first met her, and what is she doing as the movie gets underway?

Lilly: Well, Hope started the first Ant-Man film a very cold, detached, very isolated woman.
She didn’t have a lot of relationships in her life. She had a lot of broken relationships in her life, and over the course of these three films, I’ve had this incredible arc to be able to play where she has, in that time, repaired her relationship with her father. She’s reunited with her long-lost mother. She’s fallen madly in love with Scott, and she’s become a stepmom to Cassie. And so her life is just full of relationship, and it’s full of love, and she is really like a blossomed version of the woman that we met, and you see that in the work that she’s doing in the world.

She’s thriving and taking that love and spreading it around by trying to do right in the world and fix issues that are massive like global warming and housing crises, and she’s doing it with success. And there’s this little hiccup. There’s this little missing piece, which is that she had always fantasized about her mom coming home one day. And I think ‘cause that fantasy started when she was 8 years old, it was, like, we’re gonna be best friends, and she’s gonna tell me everything, and we’re just gonna be so close.

What exactly is the Quantum Realm, and where have we seen that before?

Kevin Feige: Well, we first saw it in the first Ant-Man film, and I was sort of reminded recently that this was an idea that Paul had early on, before we started filming the first Ant-Man film, to what if we explore this, you know, quantum mechanics, which I’m happy to discuss at length today if you guys want. Things act very differently at the quantum level, and Paul was talking about the amount of storytelling and imagination and fun that you could have there. The first Ant-Man movie was mainly about meeting the characters and the origin story, of course, but at the very end of that, we got a taste of it, and that is what led to where we took it in Endgame.

And it is a place that is on the subatomic level where space and time act differently, and that allowed us to time travel at Scott Lang’s suggestion in Endgame, and it allowed us to have this entire manic quantumness [phonetic] in this film, where we go to a point where only Janet had ever seen before. And as Evangeline said, she didn’t talk about it too much, where there is an entire universe below the surface where we meet all sorts of fun, crazy characters.

What is it about these movies that captivates audiences in your opinion?

Michael Douglas: I think the Ant-Man pictures we refer to family a lot, brings a vulnerability to these super-power characters that we see in a lot of Marvel films. There’s a certain vulnerability. And a sense of humor that exists that I think is really a pleasure. This is very joyful for me as I’m learning more today about the whole experience than I’ve known, but I think it’s that sort of fun element about it.
Certainly there’s the danger but it seems to relate to all different ages. Someone like myself who’s mostly reference to R-Rated movies, this has really been a pleasure to have younger kids coming up and enjoying it and seeing what’s going on. So, kudos to everybody.

Now that Janet has returned after 30 years, finally reuniting with Hank and Hope, what does she fill them in on in regards to all things subatomic?

Michelle Pfeiffer: Well, I don’t know what I can say about that. But I will say that yes, after finally being rescued from the Quantum Realm after 30 years and reunited with her lovely husband Hank and daughter Hope, you know, she is just savoring this time together and quite, decidedly so, secretive about her time down there.
And not really wanting to get into that until, of course, we all find ourselves down in the parallel universe and parallel world. And she is forced to come forth with the truth and in a place where she had hoped she would never see again. And, you know, 30 years is a long time. People have needs. And let’s not be judgmental. And so, I think there are a lot of surprises for the family.

Can you explain the character ‘Kang’ and the concept of variants and what your approach is to playing them?

Jonathan Majors: Who is Kang? I think that is a question that we will all be answering for a very long time. I think the quick answer to that is Kang is a time traveling super villain.
Who is also a nexus being. Which leads to this idea of variants. There’s multiple versions of Kang. They occupy different universes, multi-verses, they have different intentions. They are all different beings, and yet something that we’re still and I’m still working on and continue to refine and refine and refine to something as a throughline between them. And that, to me, is the Kang gene.

Reed: We had a lot of conversations early on about how this character would move and speak. Kang is able to experience past, present and future at the same time. What does that look like? He conserves his energy. There’s not a wasted gesture or word, and if Kang says something, he means it.
Jonathan brought an entirely different energy to the set. The ‘Ant-Man’ movies have always been comedies. I like to have a really relaxed, fun set so that the actors can go in front of the camera and feel comfortable trying weird stuff. It’s a safe space. And Jonathan came in as this disruptor—this very intimidating force. He carried music with him when he showed up on the set—we knew Kang the Conqueror was there. It was so great to put that energy up against Paul Rudd’s energy, and it mirrored what we were doing in the movie itself. A lot of people might consider Ant-Man the ‘weakest’ Avenger: ‘What can that guy do? He shrinks and talks to ants. That’s ridiculous.’ Putting that guy up against Kang the Conqueror, who’s the most powerful being in the multiverse—that seemed really exciting to us.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA opens in theaters nationwide on Friday Feb. 19 (tickets now on sale).

Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne, along with Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, explore the Quantum Realm, where they interact with strange creatures and embark on an adventure that goes beyond the limits of what they thought was possible.